Charlotte: Safe place to live?? (Gastonia, Concord: 2009, high crime, houses)

[babyysrayl]

I was on the internet and came across a article posted by Forbes Magazine stating that Charlotte was rated as one of the most dangerous places to live! From 1 to 15, it was rated 14! Now you alll live there, can I get some feedback? They were also talking about the mexican drug gangs. It mentioned Concord and Gastonia. I was there visiting and was impressed and then read this article and was surprised. I got the feeling that Concord had that cozy small town laid back atomsphere.

[PT 3000]

I posted the almost same thread but you beat me by a few minutes, darn it.

[lovesMountains]

Natives actually pay Forbes to post this every six months or so to help us stem the crushing tide of folks relocating here Is it working??

[anifani821]

Originally Posted by lovesMountains

Natives actually pay Forbes to post this every six months or so to help us stem the crushing tide of folks relocating here Is it working??

I was just thinking the same thing. This is a blatant attempt to stem the tide of newcomers (well, the ones arriving without jobs lined up).

Honestly - I don't even know what to say about that article. Someone at Forbes has a love/hate relationship w/ Charlotte. One month it is - best place to start a new business . . . next month, best place to retire . . . next month, crime-infested hell hole.

I give up. All I know is, I am sure that CLT has gangs just like other cities, but I have never seen anyone I even SUSPECTED was a gang member, nor have I been a victim of violent crime. But then, I don't hang out in known high crime areas. I know we have had problems w/ break-ins, but that seems to have slowed down since the new Police Chief took over.

I guess someone has to be #14 on the list and looks like this go round, it was our turn.

[mullman]

y, CLT s*cks.

Don't think of moving here all you out-o-towners....





Agree Ani, I get Forbes and it is so fickle about Charlotte even within a given year.
Meh.

[lovesMountains]

Originally Posted by Sheila Ysrayl

I was on the internet and came across a article posted by Forbes Magazine stating that Charlotte was rated as one of the most dangerous places to live! From 1 to 15, it was rated 14! Now you alll live there, can I get some feedback? They were also talking about the mexican drug gangs. It mentioned Concord and Gastonia. I was there visiting and was impressed and then read this article and was surprised. I got the feeling that Concord had that cozy small town laid back atomsphere.

Okay Sheila, let's be serious...

There are some things you need to consider.

In the first place - there are only about 30 cities in America with popluations over half a million. So if you think about it, Charlotte is 14 on a list of 30 - which means about half the cities our size are MORE dangerous than we are, and about half are less dangerous, though not by much.

BIG CITIES HAVE BIG CRIME NUMBERS - Would you be surprised to go to some place like Chicago or Las vagas and find crime?? OF COURSE you wouldn't. So you have to remember to think of Charlotte as a bigger city than you may have realized it is.

[Carolina Blue]

Originally Posted by Sheila Ysrayl

I was on the internet and came across a article posted by Forbes Magazine stating that Charlotte was rated as one of the most dangerous places to live! From 1 to 15, it was rated 14! Now you alll live there, can I get some feedback? They were also talking about the mexican drug gangs. It mentioned Concord and Gastonia. I was there visiting and was impressed and then read this article and was surprised. I got the feeling that Concord had that cozy small town laid back atomsphere.

Can you post a link to the Forbes article?

[MysteryMT]

http://www.forbes.com/2009/04/23/most-dangerous-cities-lifestyle-real-estate-dangerous-american-cities.html

Other top ten list that have appeared on the forum:

http://www.city-data.com/forum/charl...p-10-list.html
http://www.city-data.com/forum/charl...ng-market.html
http://www.city-data.com/forum/charl...charlotte.html
http://www.city-data.com/forum/charl...-industry.html
http://www.city-data.com/forum/charl...lacks-why.html
http://www.city-data.com/forum/charl...otte-15-a.html
http://www.city-data.com/forum/charl...-top-list.html

A quick summary for those of you that don't want to click thru all the threads - We're great for recent grads and black people. Charlotte is empty but has lots of houses (I assume they are all unoccupied). But in general we're just a bunch of fat slobs that don't care about sports.

Originally Posted by Sheila Ysrayl

I was there visiting and was impressed and then read this article and was surprised. I got the feeling that Concord had that cozy small town laid back atomsphere.

Personally I think you're on the right track, even though you thought it was a nice city, ignore anything you saw or felt good about...just read through this articles, they cover all aspects of living in Charlotte and should be considered as the end all be all way to rate a city. Surely the author of this article is a resident expert on all US cities, look at his other work:

http://search.forbes.com/search/colA...lley+Greenburg

I mean coin collecting, baseball stadiums, and mutual funds 101. He's written 48 "articles" since Jan 15th, so he probably spent countless hours researching and compiling this data...certainly more than just an excel file and utilizing the sort option.

[Barkingowl]

I've lived here 13 years and haven't had my home robbed, my car robbed or been mugged. Maybe I'm the exception not the rule.

[anifani821]

Originally Posted by Barkingowl

I've lived here 13 years and haven't had my home robbed, my car robbed or been mugged. Maybe I'm the exception not the rule.

Well, I am a native and I haven't had any of the above-mentioned things occur to me or any member of my family. However, I know crime can happen - but that goes for anywhere in the country.